


What if...

by Garnigal



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-06 03:16:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1842283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garnigal/pseuds/Garnigal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Veronica Mars exists in a perfect storm of damage, betrayal and mystery. This is Veronica in a slightly less perfect storm.</p>
<p>Each chapter stands alone, and touches on one what if question.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What if Jake and Lianne never cheated on their spouses?

“Hey Keith, Lianne! Glad you could make it for dinner. Veronica, Lilly’s upstairs in her room. Can you tell her and Duncan we’re eating in about ten minutes? Keith, can I get you a beer? Anything for you Lianne?”

Lilly Kane had heard all the stories. She’d heard how her dad grew up in the same neighbourhood Veronica lived in now, just a normal guy. She’d heard how he took a computer class in sophomore year ‘right here in Neptune High’ and amazed his teachers with his instinctive insight and knowledge. How he’d gone from tiny little Neptune to the big pond of CalTech and still been top of his class. How he’d worked so hard in his classes that he almost didn’t even notice Celeste throwing herself at him, but when she showed up at his frat in a see through dress, even he managed to pull his eyes off the computer screen. How she’d supported him through his masters degree, while he focused on user experience and making it easy for the guy on the street to use his software by making Celeste test it out because she was so computer illiterate. How they’d moved the company to Neptune because Grandma Kane was dying, and how they’d stayed even after she was gone because he wanted to raise his kids in a small town.

Lilly had heard them all, rolled her eyes at the nauseating ‘you can do anything if you try hard’ and ‘always remember where you came from’ messages not so subtly hidden. Donut ate it up, of course. He was small town through and through, no matter how much money they had, no matter the house in in Cabo and the chalet in Tahoe. He wanted to please his father, so he put in hours of effort to get good grades, and a ‘nice job, slugger’.

Lilly was anything but small town. She might live here, but her life was bigger than a place where everyone knew everyone else, and knew everyone’s dirty laundry. Everyone knew that Dick’s mom was banging the gardener, again, and that Big Dick was looking for both a divorce lawyer and a replacement wife, preferably young and hot. How everyone knew that Lilly’s mom wanted to be the most beautiful and important woman in the Neptune social scene (like that was a big accomplishment), and resented Lynn Echolls for outshining her so effortlessly. How everyone knew that Veronica’s mom and Lilly’s dad used to be the ‘It’ couple in highschool, and how they really belonged together. 

Nothing except small town gossip, as if it really mattered. No one important (meaning outside of this stupid town) would ever hear the rumours.

But it mattered to Jake, business leader of Neptune. It mattered to Celeste, wanna-be social queen of Neptune. So when Lilly and Veronica became best friends (because they were both awesome), their parents created the most boring friendship ever. Dinners at each other homes, Celeste and Lianne bonding together in their subtle dislike of Lynn Echolls and disapproval of Logan and not at all subtle appreciation of Aaron. Baseball games and grand plans for making Neptune a better city for everyone, not just the people in the ‘right’ zip code.

Lilly knew her dad, had heard all his stories. There was no way he’d do something so inappropriate as cheat on Celeste. She and Veronica could fantasize about being real sisters all they wanted, but it’d never happen. Jake was just too small town to do something like that.


	2. What if everyone suspected that Aaron beat Logan?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What if... in drabble style. Each character gets exactly 100 words to sum up how they know/what they know about Aaron's treatment of Logan.

Jake

He’s limping again.

Not a lot, and not if he thinks anyone is looking, but he’s limping.

I’ve known the kid since he was eleven. I’ve known his father longer. 

Aaron’s always had a temper. Hell, he and I’ve gotten into it in the not too distant past. And I’ve known Logan long enough to know he’s just like his dad in a lot of ways. He pushes his way in where he shouldn’t be, picks away at things you just wish he’d drop.

Besides, if something was really wrong, I’m sure Logan would come to ask me for help.

 

Celeste

I like the boy, I do. Duncan was overprotected, passive. Logan brought him out of his shell, and Duncan learned to stand up for himself.

Still, it’s my job to take care of my son, not worry about the Echolls boy. I’ve seen the bruises on his arms, how he protects his ribs and back. I know it’s not from surfing, even if he is a daredevil. 

Of course I’m careful if Aaron is here, making sure not to leave my children alone with him. 

It’s Lynn’s job to look after her own family, just like I look after mine.

 

Lilly

One of these days, Logan’s going to snap and it’ll be epic.

I can already picture it; Logan and Aaron toe to toe, screaming in each others faces. Aaron will haul off and hit Logan across the face, splitting his lip, but Logan won’t even flinch. It’s not like he’s not used to it. He won’t even think, just pull his arm back and punch his dad back.

Aaron will lose his shit, and start beating on Logan, and Logan will start beating on Aaron, and the blood will flow, and the sweat will fly…

It’ll be so fucking hot.

 

Duncan

We don’t hang out at Logan’s place. He comes here, or we go over to Dick’s. But never Logan’s.

I get why. Aaron can be pretty scary. I’ve heard Mr Echolls lose it. He always seemed like such a nice guy before. Logan said I should go home for dinner early, and I didn’t see him for a couple of weeks after that.

I didn’t know what it meant back then, but now I kind of do. But we don’t talk about stuff like that. So I just make sure he knows he can always come over to my house.

 

Keith

The kid gets the snot beat out of him a couple of times a year. It’s obvious, if you know what to look for, and I do. I wasn’t always a small-town sheriff. I used to be the guy on the front lines, wading into domestics on a daily basis, talking people out of letting those they love, those who are supposed to take care of them, hurt them. 

I’ve talked to Logan. He’s won’t admit to anything, even though it’s obvious.

One of these days Aaron will go too far. It’s obvious to me, but Logan still has hope.

 

Veronica

I asked Logan about a scar on his arm once. He told me he’d been bitten by a shark when he was surfing. I believed him, begged for the whole story, until I heard Duncan and Lilly laughing behind me.

I was so mad, I wouldn’t speak to him for days. And he never did tell me how he got the scar.

I didn’t realize that he was deliberately distracting me so I wouldn’t ask again. So I wouldn’t ask about the scar on his back, or the ones on his legs. 

But I won’t let him distract me again.

 

VP Clemmons

There are some difficult children at Neptune High. 

The typical problems of low income families, exacerbated when they see how the other half lives.

The typical problems of rich brats, exacerbated when they feed on each others’ arrogance.

But the most difficult are kids suffering at the hands of the parents who are supposed to protect them.

I can see it in the way they posture or cringe, the way they dominate those around them or fade into the background.

I see it in their eyes, the silent screams for help.

I see it, and I can do so little.


	3. What if Lilly told Veronica why Duncan broke up with her?

She considered telling Veronica that Duncan wasn’t worth the pain, but one look in Veronica’s teary eyes forced Lilly to tell the truth.

 

“Jesus, Vee, you don’t want to know this, please don’t make me tell you.” Lilly begged one last time.

 

“I have to know, Lils. Otherwise I’ll always wonder what my life would have been like, I’ll always be wondering if I’m doing the same thing that drove Duncan away,” Veronica’s voice cracked as she started crying again.

 

Lilly pulled her by the hand into the girls washroom, and quickly kicked the stall doors to make sure no one was hanging out unnoticed.

 

“First off, Vee, you didn’t do anything wrong. Duncan freaked out about something totally unrelated and he’s an idiot child so he handled it like an idiot child. Trust me, I gave him hell when I finally got the real story.

 

“Second, do you really want to know? I mean, I’m kind of stoked, but it might change your whole life?”

 

Veronica bit her lip, but straightened her shoulders and nodded resolutely. “Hit me, Lilly. I need to know.”

 

Lilly took a deep breath. “You know how my dad grew up here, right? And went to school with your mom. Apparently, they had this big romance - quarterback, cheerleader, the whole nine yards. Which, ew. I can’t imagine Jake ever being anyone’s idea of romance, but I digress. Anyway, Celeste has been watching you and Duncan with an eagle eye, which I thought was just creepy Celeste being oh so protective of her precious Donut, but apparently she’s just been waiting to drop her bomb on him and ruin his life.”

 

Veronica was getting progressively whiter as Lilly spoke, and Lilly kept talking faster and faster, trying to get it out quickly. “Don’t pass out, Vee, but Celeste knows for a fact that Jake’s been with your mom, for, like, ever, and she thinks it’s possible that you are actually Jake’s daughter, and she didn’t want Duncan to risk having sex with his half sister, and jesus christ are you okay?”

 

Veronica was practically collapsed on the floor, white as a sheet and breathing shallowly. She looked worse than Madison when that bitch got dropped from the top of the pyramid and broke her wrist.

 

“I mean, I know you aren’t okay. Your mom is cheating on your dad, and why would she do that, Keith is totally the best, and Duncan is an asshole for not telling you this himself because, obviously, important information, but none of this is your fault. That’s all to the good, right?”

 

Lilly was finally silent, wringing her hands anxiously as she watched Veronica struggle to accept the story Lilly had revealed. As Veronica went from gasping to sobbing, Lilly flung herself to the floor beside her friend, gathering Veronica in her arms to offer what comfort she could.

 

Eventually, Veronica pulled away. She stood, shakily, and moved to the sinks, where she straightened her ponytail and washed her face with shaking hands. Lilly watched her tidy herself, watched as Veronica visibly pulled into herself, pulled away.

 

“I need to go home now.”

 

Lilly moved aside, letting Veronica exit the washroom, feeling cold and shaken.

  
Vee never even looked at her.


	4. What if Veronica was just as wild as Lilly?

He hadn’t spoken to his daughter in three days. 

He’d finally seen her this morning, stumbling in at 8 am with makeup smeared so thickly around her eyes that it looked like bruises. He almost went to her then, held her gently, asked who hurt her until he realized it was just the run off of another debauched night. Or weekend, given how long she’d been gone.

She went to her room.

He went to work.

He vaguely remembered a little girl in pigtails, running freely on the beach, on the soccer field, in the street. He remembered a sweet child who gave fierce hugs every time he walked in the door, even if it was just from taking out the garbage.

He’d see that little girl out of the corner of his eye sometimes. But when he turned, smiling to see her again, it wasn’t his Veronica.

It was Vee, dressed in red and black leather, heading into a bar she wasn’t old enough to enter.

It was Vee, shaking out her short hair as she climbed off the back of someone’s motorcycle.

It was Vee, standing in a shadowed corner with some guy’s tongue in her mouth and her hands down his pants.

It was Vee, too dismissive of her parents to even bother arguing with them.

Maybe he’d try to talk to her tonight after he got home from work. Convince her to have dinner with them. Maybe even stay in and watch a movie. Maybe he’d find some Veronica still in there if he tried hard enough.

But when he walked in the door, she was walking out in a tiny skirt and thigh high boots with four inch heels.

And she was only Vee, with nothing of Veronica left to find.


	5. What if Lianne got help for her drinking problem?

The house was empty when I got home.

I'd known it would be; I'd said my goodbyes this morning.

28 days before she came home. 28 days, and she'd be back. Hopefully she'd be clear-eyed and focused. Hopefully she'd stay that way.

Hope. That's what I saw in Dad's eyes when he hugged me this morning. Maybe that's what he saw in mine too.

Did Mom have hope as well? I know I hugged her, told her I'd miss her, told her I'd work hard in school and she could work hard too. That I'd be here when she got home.

But I never looked in her eyes. I was afraid of what I'd see - resignation? Frustration? Sheer exhaustion? Anger that we were ruining her 'good time'?

Or would it be worse? Would it be fear? Loneliness? Worry that we were trying to push her out of our lives, so we could move on without her damage weighing us down?

I will never know what she was feeling when she left. I was too much of a coward to look. But when she come home, I'll look her in the eyes. I'll let her see my hope, my fear, even my anger and frustration. I'll let her see my love.

And I hope I'll see love reflecting back at me, in a clear-eyed gaze from eyes identical to mine.


End file.
